Four's Company
by RixxiSpooks
Summary: Set around the Killing and Divine Madness! Four kids escape from their father and end up at CHERUB, what friction will their arrival cause in the gang? Has James met his match as a trouble maker? And Bruce in the dojo?
1. Car Chase

**Hey, this is my first try at a CHERUB story so please tell me what you think! I love the books and I've tried to write in Robert Muchamore's amazing style but it's really hard!**

"We've gotta get out of here!"

"Wha…?"

"Concentrate, Rob. It's tonight you dumbass!"

"What's tonight?"

"Oh, for crying out loud, give me strength! We are escaping tonight!"

"Oh, right, yeah." The drowsy boy tumbled out of bed in his boxers; he rubbed his sticky eyes and yawned widely.

"Stop arsing around you prick, go get Adam," the boy gave Robin a shove.

"Wait, I gotta get some clothes on, if I go out like this I'll freeze my butt off," Robin hissed.

"Well get a move on!" Robin pulled on some baggy jeans and a green hoody. Then he shoved his socks and trainers on.

"Have you got the stuff? The money?" Robin asked.

"Yes, now go get Adam! I'll get Lily and I'll meet you downstairs," the boy hurried out of the room whilst Robin followed at a more casual pace. He loved his twin brother but sometimes he could be a right pushy wanker.

Josh half ran half walked into his little sister's bedroom. He was careful not to make a sound, remembering every single creaky floorboard on the landing and avoiding it. He didn't want his dad to wake up because then they'd be for it. Josh was reassured to hear the loud, rumbling snores issuing from his father's bedroom. He tiptoed into the pink flowery room and went over to the bed where he could see the small form of his sister, the duvet rising and falling with her breathing.

"Lily, Lily, wake up," Josh gently shook his sister; she snuffled slightly but didn't wake so he pinched her ear.

"Ow!" Lily yelped, her eyes flicking open. She glared at her brother, "What you do that for?"

"Oh, not you as well! We're leaving! Getting away from Dad!" Josh whispered at the ten year old. Lily nodded and hopped out of bed, more awake than Robin and Josh saw she was already dressed.

"Just joking, course I knew!" Lily grinned, "Let's go."

"Ok, be quiet," Josh led her out of the room.

They met their two brothers downstairs, Robin looked more awake now and Adam was clutching a rucksack to his chest. Josh walked past them both and grabbed the keys to his dad's BMW.

"Let's roll." They all went outside, jigging in the cold whilst Josh unlocked the car and chucked their bags of the few possessions they were taking in the boot. "Get in then, guys, don't hang about." They all piled in, Robin in the front next his twin and the two younger ones in the back.

Josh took a deep breath and looked at the steering wheel in front of him. He'd only driven cars a few times and they were the battered up ones down at the 'wasteland'. This was a brand new turbo BMW but he guessed that it must be pretty similar. Turning the key in the ignition the engine sprang into life with a roar. Everyone in the car flinched at the noise.

"Shit!" Josh grabbed the gear stick and put it into reverse. The car began rolling backwards and there was a huge crashing sound as it smashed into the metal dustbins.

"What the hell are you doing you tosser?!" Robin yelled, "Wake up the whole neighbourhood why don't you?"

"Piss off!" Suddenly the light switched on in the house and they heard a bellow. Dad had woken up! Josh frantically battled with the steering wheel as he swung out of the driveway, narrowly missing a wandering cat. By this time the front door had been flung open and the kids' father charged down the path.

"Get back here you little brats! You're in for a good beating now! I'll make sure I break all the bones in your bodies!"

"Go, go, go!" Adam screamed from the back seat, terrified of the advancing man. Josh obliged, putting his foot down, hard, on the accelerator causing the tyres to squeal in protest but they finally bit into the tarmac and they were away, shooting down the street at fifty miles an hour.

"You're for it, bastards!" the furious man pulled out his mobile and dialled for the police, he would get his car, his money and those damn kids back soon.

* * *

Josh couldn't believe it, it was five in the morning, an hour after they'd left and they'd finally escaped! His heart was beating nineteen to the dozen and he was pumped with adrenaline. He glanced into the back and saw his two younger siblings were asleep. His other brother, Robin, sat beside him, white knuckles gripping the dashboard.

"Can't you drive any better?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Nope, you'll have to get used to it," Josh grinned.

"Fine, can we listen to some music then?"

"Sure." Josh switched on the radio but the smile soon vanished from his face as he heard the news.

"There are reports of a stolen BMW," the man on the radio began, "This car is being driven by a thirteen year old boy, Joshua Thorpe, and is transporting three other children, two boys and a girl. It was stolen in the early hours of the morning. The owner, Mr David Thorpe, is the father of the children and cannot understand why they would do such a thing.

Police cars are being sent out to track down the vehicle and stop it as soon as possible before anyone is injured. If anyone sees a dark green BMW with the number plate…" Joe turned to a different radio station but it was saying the same thing.

"What do we do, Josh?" Robin asked, anxiously.

"We've gotta get out of town and ditch the car," Josh decided as he reached a junction and drove onto the motorway, "We can't get caught."

* * *

James was bored, he flicked through the channels on his TV but nothing good seemed to be on. There were some crappy cartoons and a few dreary soaps but nothing caught his interest. He was about to turn it off when he tuned into a news channel. It was showing a rather fuzzy picture, probably from a helicopter, filming a high speed chase down the motorway. Five police cars with blue flashing lights and wailing sirens were tailing a shiny green BMW. The BMW was skimming in and out of the traffic at what must've been around 100mph, only just avoiding a massive collision with a big, red lorry.

"Geez, that guy must be crazy." James looked in awe as the car ended up by the metal barrier between the two lanes, sandwiched by that and a police car. There was a terrific grating noise as the car was pushed onto the barrier. Two wheels left the ground and James gaped as it balanced precariously on the barrier.

"Bloody hell," he breathed. Another barge from the panda car nearly flipped it but miraculously the car slid over the metal and onto the other side of the motorway. It was now face with cars coming in the opposite direction.

All of a sudden James' door smashed open showing Bruce and Kyle with enormous grins on their faces.

"Ever heard of knocking?" James asked but was ignored as the two boys slumped on his bed.

"So you're watching the chase too!" Bruce said, "Isn't the guy driving awesome!"

"He's bloody lost his marbles more like," Kyle shook his head in amazement as the BMW swung round and went with the flow of cars. It turned off at the nearest junction and disappeared from sight into the winding country side lanes.

"Man, the whackjob, nutcase, lunatic got away with it!" Bruce gasped, stunned, "What I wouldn't give to drive like that when I'm older!"

"Me neither," James agreed, "That dude was wicked!"

The boys couldn't be bothered to listen to the crap the newsreader was about to spiel so they switched off the TV. If they had listened then they would've heard it wasn't an adult driving, in fact, there wasn't even an adult in the car. Instead they headed out to go for a morning run, an important part of CHERUB daily life.

* * *

"That was the scariest thing I have ever done in my life," Josh announced once he was sure they'd lost the cops.

"You did great, bro!" Robin grinned at him, shocked they were all still alive.

"Yeah, that was an amazing bit of driving," Adam nodded, looking admiringly at his older brother.

"Pah, a chicken could've pulled it off. Now watch the roa…!" The last part of Lily's sentence came out as a squeaky shout. Josh whipped his eyes back to the road just in time to see three boys jogging across. He skidded, swerving to avoid them and ended up flying off the road and into a ditch. The back wheels of the car high in the air.

* * *

James, Bruce and Kyle turned round to the sound of screeching brakes and dived out of the way just in time to see the car plunge into a ditch.

"Holy shit!" Bruce shouted, "Ain't that the car that was on the news?"

"Yeah!" James hurtled over to the mashed up car to see if he could help, as soon as he saw the first streaks of crimson liquid splattered on the window he yelled, "Call 999!" James gingerly slithered into the ditch, careful not to land on any broken glass. He peered through the back window and saw two children, a girl and a boy, sprawled across the seats. The boy had his leg twisted under the front seat at an odd angle whilst the girl had several shards of shrapnel embedded in her right arm. They both couldn't be more than ten or eleven.

"Crap, this doesn't look good," he spoke to Kyle who was jumping into the crash site behind him. James moved onto the front windows and saw an older boy unconscious in the passenger seat. He couldn't see his injuries but he guessed there must be some. Then he glanced over at the driver's seat and did a double take. There was no one there, just a few splashes of blood.

They heard a strangled yell from the road and both spun round to see Bruce struggling with his attacker. The two boys leapt out of the hole and stared at the fight ensuing. James' jaw dropped as he saw the size of the person that had just put Bruce into an arm lock. He was a kid! Even smaller than Bruce, with chestnut brown spiked hair and brown eyes. He had a huge, bloody gash above his eyebrow and one of his arms hung limply by his side. Even with these handicaps he had overpowered Bruce - the guy who'd been doing karate for years and always boasting over his skills.

"Hey, kid, chill," Kyle stepped forward, wanting to break it up before Bruce ended up with a busted arm.

"Back off!" the kid spat, "Let us go!"

"Um, mate, you're in no fit state to go anywhere, neither is your family," James reasoned.

"Let me take the car and go!" The boy twisted Bruce's arm more and his face grew a bright shade of red.

"The car's totalled! Completely ka-put. You won't be going anywhere," Kyle said.

"Wait," James suddenly realised something, "Were _you _the one driving the car down the motorway who pulled those sick moves?" The boy frowned and then nodded slowly.

"Yeah, that was me."

"Wow, I thought that was an adult! It was awesome," James said, looking at the boy in amazement.

"What made you do that kid?" Kyle asked, edging closer to Bruce.

"We were escaping from my bastard father," the kid said. Just as Kyle was going to lunge for him he released Bruce, clutching his head.

"Are you ok?" James rushed forward just as the boy collapsed. "Shit! Where's that ambulance?!"

**Please review! I'll love you and give you a strawberry sundae!**


	2. Accepted

**Hey, this is my next chapter! I hope you enjoy it and please, please, please review!**

"So how are they?" James asked Mac.

"They're all alive, they were pretty lucky," Mac replied, shuffling some papers on the desk.

"Who are they? The driver was crazy but brilliant, he took out Bruce!" Kyle said whilst Bruce glared at him.

"They're a family that escaped their father. Their mother died when the youngest was born. Judging by the bruises on their arms and chests we're guessing they were abused," Mac answered.

"Are you gonna send them back?"

"No, we're not, they're going to disappear," the CHERUB chairman said.

"What? Here?"

"Yes, they seem physically strong enough and we've seen a few school reports that tell us they're intelligent."

"But you still haven't answered our question. Who are they?"

"Well, the oldest two are twins but they aren't identical. Robin and Josh is the one who attacked Bruce. We believe he's been training himself to learn karate moves from a book to defend himself and siblings from his father's temper. They are both twelve. The younger boy is called Adam, he's eleven and the girl is called Lily, she's ten," Mac informed them.

"Big family," James commented, "When are they getting out of the hospital?"

"About," Mac looked at his watch, "Now. They'll be arriving at CHERUB campus in an hour. But remember you can't talk to them because they'll be orange shirts until they do the tests and accept coming here."

"Wow, I hope they do come, I wanna know where Josh learnt to drive like that!"

* * *

"Where are we going, Josh?" Lily asked, "D'you think they're sending us back to Dad?"

"I don't know, I hope not," Josh replied. They were sitting in the back of a van, huddled together in the middle. With no windows none of them had a clue where they were. All Josh remembered was being led injected with some drugs in the hospital and then waking up here.

All his siblings were pretty battered. Robin had had internal bleeding and had to have an operation to stem it. Adam's leg was sticking out in front of him, crutches by his side. He'd broken it in three places when it was crushed under the seat and Lily had stitches all up her arm. Josh had dislocated his shoulder and had mild concussion but they were fixed now.

"If they do send us back," Adam gulped, "What do you think Dad'll do to us?"

"He won't do anything, as soon as we get back I'll pummel him until he's nearly dead and we'll escape better this time," Josh replied, shocking his brother's and sister by his sharpness.

Robin felt the van slow, "Well, we're here, wherever here is." The van halted and the family waited a few moments before the doors were opened and they were let out.

Stepping into bright sunshine they looked around and caught their breath. This was nothing like they expected. There was a huge, modern looking building in front of them with glass doors and a few people coming in and out. They were mostly children in different coloured shirts: greys, reds, navies and a couple of blacks. There were a few adults as well in white t-shirts. All these t-shirts had the same symbol on. It was of a baby sitting on a globe. But this wasn't an ordinary baby, it had a bow an arrow, an army helmet and a belt that looked like it held ammo. It also had a pair of wings. The word accompanying this peculiar symbol was CHERUB.

"Where the hell are we?" Robin breathed as he helped Adam out of the van. Josh shrugged, still in shock.

"Come this way," the driver of the van grunted, leading them into the building.

Lily stared as she followed her brother's, what was this place? It looked like some kind of children's home crossed with a school. She glanced out of a window and saw loads of kids playing outside on tennis courts, Astroturfs and football pitches. The kids looked between the ages of eight and seventeen. All in coloured shirts. There were boys and girls playing, rough as each other. She watched as one girl with long, shiny black hair and brown skin kicked a tall boy with blonde hair in the shin. He looked _so _fit! In fact most of the boys looked hot!

"Lily! Hurry up," Robin grabbed her hand and dragged her past a water fountain in the same shape as the pictures on the t-shirts. They followed a woman to a lift and she told them to go to Dr McAfferty's office.

* * *

"Do I knock or what?" Josh asked after the receptionist deserted them.

"Er…I dunno," Robin shrugged, "Just knock." Josh complied and rapt two times on the wooden door.

"Come in," a voice replied. The foursome filed into the room and sat when the man behind the desk gestured them too.

"Hello, I'm Dr McAfferty but everyone calls me Mac, I'm the chairman," the man smiled.

"Hi," came the mumbled answer.

"I am guessing that you are wondering where you are and what you are doing here?" There were nods. "Well, this is CHERUB campus. It is a young branch of MI5."

"You what?" Adam gaped.

"Wait, let me finish," Mac held up a hand for silence, "We train children between the ages of ten and seventeen to become spies. You see, no criminal suspects a child to be planting bugs and digging up dirt on them. That's why we have been so effective in missions all over the world. Over three hundred children live here. We recruit them from children's homes usually but we are regarding the four of you as a special case. We would like to recruit you into CHERUB."

"Seriously?" Lily butted in before any of her brother's could speak, "You want us to become spies?!" Mac nodded and the young girl grinned, "Well, I'm in!"

"Hey, Lily, hold your horses," Josh said before looking the chairman in the eye, "Will my family be in any danger? Cos if they are there is no chance."

"Well…"

"Oi, who said you were in control of my life. This is a change, getting away from Dad. Have you looked at this place? It's amazing! There is no way you are stopping me from coming."

"Lily, your brother is right. You should know about the dangers before you dive in but I'm glad you're eager," Mac intervened, "There are some risks but we do all we can to keep you safe and you are put through a lot of training to make sure you know exactly what you're doing. In the around fifty years CHERUB has been running only four agents have died." Josh nodded, his face remaining blank, thinking over the decision. Mac could tell he would make an excellent agent if he accepted.

"I can give you some time to think about it," Mac added.

"No," Josh looked up, "This is gonna be the best opportunity we are ever gonna have in our lives. We'll accept, if the others agree but what about our Dad?"

"We are going to tell him you died in a car accident. We know about the abuse and we won't send you back." All the children smiled at this.

"So are we moving in now?"

"Well, you have to take a few tests to see if you can cut it as a spy but I think you'll find them easy. Some of you will have to skip them," Mac looked pointedly at Adam's leg, "But I'm sure we can find a way around that."

"Cool," Robin grinned, "When do we start?"

"Now, but I need you to put on these shirts," the chairman brandished four bright orange t-shirts with the CHERUB logo on, "Don't be offended if none of the other children talk to you, they need my clearance." The siblings took the t-shirts and pulled them on. The boys taking their other tops off completely but Lily put it on top of her _I'm with Stupid _t-shirt.

"Ok, first, three of you will be heading to the dojo. Adam, you'll have to sit this one out."

* * *

Josh had been adamant on taking part in the karate even though his arm was still tender.

"Are you sure?" Mac had asked.

"Yes," Josh replied, "What good am I as a spy if I can't fight after having an injury that's not even life threatening?"

So now he stood before Bruce again. He recognised the boy from when he'd put him in an arm lock but that had been a surprise attack and Josh wasn't quite sure how he'd fair. Bruce looked out for revenge. Then again, Josh told himself, last time he fought Bruce was with a dislocated shoulder and now that was pretty much fully functional.

"Bow…three…two…one…go." Bruce launched into an attack straight away, heading for Josh's nose but when he got there he found, much to his shock, that the boy had moved. He was very fast and before Bruce had time to register he'd been knocked to the ground by a very hard blow to the side of the head. He saw red dots in front of his eyes before trying to stagger up but was stopped by a bony knee pinning him to the ground between his shoulder blades. Josh took his arm and started bending back, just as he had before until it got to the point where Bruce was sure it should break.

"I submit," he shouted. Josh got up and backed off. Bruce hauled himself off the soft blue mat and spat blood on the ground. This was a new side of events for him; usually he was the one taking out his opponent. This kid was _very _good.

The next round Bruce did get a hit in but it was pathetic only bouncing off Josh's cheek bone and the next second he was on the floor, this time with Josh's foot on his windpipe, slowly squashing it.

"I submit," he wheezed.

This time Josh decided to get it over and done with straight away and didn't even give the other boy a chance to move before he'd bowled him over, knocking the wind completely out of his lungs. Bruce couldn't get up and much to his dismay had to dent his pride once more and submit.

"Very impressive," Mac smiled at the young boy who hadn't a blemish on him.

"Thanks."

Josh's twin and sister faired ok against their opponents as he had taught them some moves too but neither of them won.

The next test was one of intelligence which just involved a paper testing their maths and English skills. All four of them found it easy and finished the test with ten minutes to spare.

* * *

"Killing a chicken?" Lily repeated looking repulsed.

"Yes, just kill it."

"Not in a million years," the ten year old shook her head defiantly, "It's disgusting."

"But you eat chicken, why should it be any different to killing it? Why should someone else do the job for you?" Mac asked.

"Well, firstly, they get paid to, secondly why should I do anything you tell me to and thirdly I'm a veggie," Lily smirked.

"Oh," Mac looked taken aback and then he smiled, "Alright, on to the next challenge."

* * *

Three of the siblings stood at the top of the assault course and looked at the gap before them. The two teenagers that were guiding them leapt over easily.

"Come on, it's hardly the Grand Canyon," the dark haired one said.

"Do you wanna go first or what?" Josh asked his brother.

"Um…" Robin looked at the drop.

"Hey, ignore me why don't you?" Lily cut in and then before either of them could stop her took a flying jump and landed lightly like a cat on the other side, "Easy peasy." The twins, not wanting to look worse than their sister took the jump quickly and moved onto the next part of the course.

* * *

When they ended back in Mac's office they were all showered and tousle haired.

"So, how'd we do?" Robin asked.

"Well, you all excelled in the intelligence test getting very high marks. In the karate test, Josh you did amazingly, everyone was extremely impressed with you and the other two did well too. You all passed those tests. Adam, I'm sure you could've so I'll give you a pass. On the chicken test Lily did very well, sticking to her beliefs and not being bullied and you three boys did well by killing the chicken as soon as I asked you too. It showed you could take a decision and carry it through. The assault course was also good and it's a shame Adam couldn't do it. You passed. So we would now like to welcome you to CHERUB."

"Yes!" Lily whooped, "All of us?"

"Naturally. But I must warn you that you'll be starting basic training in two weeks once you've settled and that's no picnic. Your bedrooms have been made up and some clothes have been put in there. You can buy some new ones soon." The family left the office.

**What do you think? Please review! It makes me so happy!**


	3. The Gang

**Hey, this has taken a while but i hope you like it! Just finished the Fall! It was wicked! Enjoy!**

"Oh. My. God!" Lily yelled, elated, "This is so swank! Is it really my room?"

"Yes," the girl answered, "I'm Gabrielle by the way."

"Lily," Lily replied still gazing in amazement at the swish furniture: a huge double bed, mini fridge, TV, computer and there was even an en suite, "This is absolutely awesome!"

"Yeah, they are pretty cool aren't they?" Gabrielle grinned, remembering how she felt when she first saw her room, "I'm a couple of floors down on floor six. I think your brothers are too. You'll like this floor, there are some good kids."

"I love it! This is the best thing that's ever happened in my life!" the ten year old beamed.

"Yeah, well wait till you do basic training. That'll be the _worst _thing that ever happens in your life," Gabrielle warned.

"Seriously? Is it really that bad?"

"Pretty."

"Well, I don't care; it'll all be worth it if I get to live here!" Lily grinned, "Wow, what does the blue t-shirt stand for?" The excitable young girl pulled the t-shirt on, smiling the whole time.

"_That _means you're gonna do basic training. After that, if you pass, you'll get a grey shirt and you'll be qualified to do missions. If you do good you'll get a navy shirt and if you do outstanding on a mission then you'll get black. That's the best. White is for retired agents and staff," Gabrielle explained.

"Gee, sounds complicated!" Lily gasped.

"Not really but I gotta go. Homework. Dinners soon and I'll see you in the dining-room," Gabrielle headed out of the room.

"See ya!" Lily called, but she was more interested in trying out her TV.

* * *

Lily started feeling hungry and decided she better find the dining-room. She switched off the TV, chucked the remote on her bed and flicked off the light as she walked out. She bounded down the corridor and couldn't be bothered to wait for the lift. Lily jumped down the stairs two at a time and shot out of the door and bowled straight into someone who was walking past. They both went flying and ended up on a heat on the floor.

"Ergh," Lily groaned and pulled herself up, she looked down at the person she'd crashed into and gaped. It was a guy; he looked about fifteen and was fit! Although he was quite skinny Lily could see the well rounded muscles on his arms and legs. He had brown hair with blondish streaks in and a stud in his ear.

"I'm so sorry!" Lily garbled suddenly realising she was staring.

"S'alright kid," the boy grinned and hauled himself up off the tiled floor.

"Did I hurt you?" Lily asked concerned.

"Hardly," the boy laughed, "A titch like you just bounced off."

"Well, I'm sorry," Lily repeated.

"It's fine. You're new ain't you?" he said and Lily nodded. "Wait a mo, weren't you one of the kids in that car that crashed?"

"Um…yeah," Lily flushed as he looked straight into her eyes. He had gorgeous grey-blue ones.

"Cool, I'm Kyle, you must be…er….Lily, that's it isn't it?" Kyle smiled and Lily felt her heart flutter.

"Y, yeah."

"So, where you headed?"

"Well, I'm trying to find the dining room," Lily admitted.

"Ok, do you want me to take you?" Kyle asked.

"Yes please," Lily said. Kyle strode towards a set of double doors and led her through. She found herself in a big dining room, there were loads of kids sitting at tables, laughing, chatting and shouting.

"This way," Kyle took her arm and Lily's breath caught in her throat. He took her over to the serving counter.

"Wow, look at this grub!" the ten year old gaped. She chose veggie curry, rice and for pudding a chocolate sponge.

"Good choice," Kyle nodded appreciatively at the sponge, "D'you wanna sit with me and my mates whilst you find your feet?"

"Er…yes," Lily felt pleased as Kyle took her to a table with a group of teenagers and pre teens.

"Yo, Kyle," a blonde haired boy that Lily recognised from playing football, "How's it going?"

"Cool, but I'm punishment laps after I accidentally hit Pikey with a water bomb when I was trying to get Bruce," Kyle slithered into a seat and gestured for Lily to sit next to him.

"It was so funny," Bruce grinned.

"Not as funny as when you got battered by my brother," Lily cut in, all the cherubs turned to look at her and she wondered if she said the wrong thing.

"He what?!" the blonde kid smirked evilly.

"Got smashed up by Josh," Lily repeated.

"Tut, tut, Brucey! How come you never told us about you getting your butt kicked a second time?" Kyle said.

"I…"

"Oh, man, I have to meet this Josh guy. He sounds awesome," a Chinese girl smiled, "Beating up our Karate champion twice! He must be good."

"And he's brilliant in a car," the blonde boy added, "How'd he get that good?" Lily didn't realise he was addressing her at first but found the whole table was staring at her.

"Oh, that was his first time on the road," Lily announced.

"Bloody hell!" Kyle gaped, "Hear that James? The first time in the car pretty much and he's already better than you."

"Piss off," James punched him on the arm, "Kerry, tell him I'm good at driving!" He pouted.

"He's a load of crap and…Christ….he's hot!"

"Why thank you," James smiled but then realised that Kerry wasn't looking at him. Her and all the other girls were staring, opened mouthed, at three boys shuffling over to the table.

"Josh!" Lily greeted her brothers, "Rob, Adam."

"That's Josh?!" Kerry and Gabrielle gasped, "Is he like the perfect boy or what?"

"Hey, your boyfriend is sitting next to you," James spoke up.

"Ew, it looks like they're about to start drooling," Bruce made a face.

"Hey lil' sis," Josh smiled at her and half the girls swooned.

"Wanna meet the gang?" Kyle asked as the boy's sat down at the now crowded table. "I'm Kyle, this is Bruce, Kerry, Gabrielle, Connor, Callum, Shak and Mo. Oh, and the prick is James."

"Oi!"

**Hehe! This is gonna be so much fun writing the banter! I cant wait! please review and i'll give you a banana split! **


	4. Dirt

**Hey, updated for all my loyal reviewers! Especially for Becky so I dont get lynched by her mates! hehe! Enjoy! ps. i had a funny turn with cheese part way through!**

James glared at Kyle and then turned back to his meal grumbling.

"Hey," one of the boys had sat down beside him and James looked up. The kid had mousey brownish hair, not that interesting, but he had bright green eyes sparkling with mischief.

"Hey, Robin, right?" James smiled, taking an instant liking to him.

"Yeah, and you're James," Robin grinned back.

"How you finding CHERUB?"

"It's bloody awesome!" Robin said.

"Is that your brother then?"

"Twin, but were not identical obviously, he got the looks and the brain but I have the charm!" Robin replied tucking into his spaghetti Bolognese.

"Cool, it must get a bit _annoying_," James raised his voice to see if Kerry or any of the girls would hear, "When he gets all the attention."

"Nah, not really, he gets the attention and I get into trouble, but no one notices!" the boy grinned.

"Brilliant, I just find trouble comes looking for me, you sound like my kind of guy," James lowered his voice to a whisper, "In fact, I've been planning some fun, at the girls expense, wanna join?"

"Sure." Robin smirked.

* * *

"So Josh, your scars are pretty macho, how'd you get them?" Gabrielle asked knowing full well he'd been in a car accident but she wanted to know what he'd come up with.

"I got them in a car accident," Josh replied, wondering why he was getting so much attention all of a sudden. There were so many girls swarming around him and asking him questions. At his old school he'd been 'the freak', 'the swot' or 'the kid with the mad dad and all the bruises.' Never had the girls had paid any notice of him. All his siblings had been outcasts too; it had been a hard time. But as he looked around now he could see they were all in animated conversations, making friends and being happy for once. He was so glad they'd been brought to CHERUB.

"Oh," Gabrielle nodded; surprised he hadn't come up with some unlikely story involving a kick boxing kangaroo and a quad bike. This made him all the more attractive, being unique. Plus the fact he seemed so nervous of the female species! "Did it hurt?"

"No, but my shoulder did," Josh answered, "Dislocated it."

"Ouch," Kerry butted in, wanted to talk to the fit boy, "But didn't you still take out Bruce with it dislocated?"

"Well…yeah….but that was only cos I had the element of surprise. If I hadn't then I wouldn't have stood a chance." Modesty as well, this guy was completely different to _any _of the cherub boys.

"But you beat him in the dojo," Gabrielle pointed out.

"Er…I guess," Josh shrugged.

"I guess?" Gabrielle spluttered her coke everywhere, "You totally annihilated one of our top karate kids without getting so much as a scratch on you!"

"Oi, Kerry," a sharp jab in the ribs brought the girl away from the conversation.

"What?" she spat at her boyfriend.

"You don't fancy him do you?" James queried, giving her puppy dog eyes.

"Nooo, of course not," Kerry lied.

"Good."

"You do right?" another poke in the ribs caused her to wince as Gabrielle stage whispered at her.

"Of course! What's not to like?" Kerry whispered, loudly, back.

"Hey, I heard that!" James pouted.

"You were meant to, moron!" Kerry giggled, "Stop being so jealous, you are my boyfriend."

* * *

As the conversation continued Kyle nudged Lily, "You wanna get out of here for a bit? It reeks of testosterone." Lily grinned, flattered at being asked to come with the older boy.

"Yeah," Lily said, quickly and then blushed suddenly realising she was probably being too eager but Kyle didn't notice.

"Ok, fancy going for a walk around campus, I can show you some stuff?" he got up and went to scrape his plate, Lily followed, "Your brother can come too, he looks a bit left out." Kyle was gesturing to Adam who looked a lonely because no one was paying attention to him. Lily didn't want her brother to come because she wanted it to be just her and Kyle but she realised cheering her brother up was more important.

"I'll ask him," Lily hurried over, "Adam, wanna come for a tour round with me and Kyle?" Adam's eyes lit up at this and he nodded coming to join them a few minutes later.

"So, where do you wanna go first?" the fifteen year old asked.

"The sports grounds," Lily decided.

* * *

"Cheese."

"You what?"

"Do like it?"

"Erm…yeah, I guess," Kyle shrugged not sure what this had to do with anything.

"Cool," Lily nodded and carried on walking.

"Lily has a thing about cheese, sorry if it's a bit freaky," Adam whispered to Kyle.

"Ok," Kyle raised an eyebrow.

"Lily! Adam!" the siblings turned to see Josh jogging towards them, "We gotta go to Meryl someone's office."

"Oh, she'll be your handler," Kyle announced.

"What's handler for? I'm not a dog!" Lily said indignantly and was pleased when the older boy laughed.

"Let's move," Josh grabbed her arm.

"Hey, I can walk you know!"

"Could've fooled me," Josh retorted as the young girl tripped on her shoe lace.

"Shut up."

* * *

When the four children arrived in Meryl's office they sat down and looked expectantly at the fit woman in front of them.

"Hello, I'm gonna be your handler in CHERUB," she addressed them.

"Yeah, we gathered that, what are you? Some kind of person that looks after us?"

"In a way, I'm here to guide you and make sure you don't get into too much trouble," Meryl replied. Robin tried to keep his face remaining blank.

"So, first things first, we need to change your surname," their handler said.

"What?" Josh looked perplexed, "What's wrong with Thorpe?"

"Well, we don't want people tracking you down do we? Or recognising you? Especially your father," Meryl spoke as if she was talking to a toddler.

"Point taken," Josh grinned.

"So what do you want it to be? It has to be a unanimous decision."

"Erm…how about Bloom, from Orlando Bloom! Then people will think we are related," Lily exclaimed, a dreamy look coming to her face.

"Don't be a dumbass, that's just stupid," Adam shook his head, "Gerrard, after Stevie!" Adam was referring to a Liverpool player which was the team the whole family supported.

"No, that's way too obvious," Robin shook his head, "What about Hood?"

"Now who's being obvious?!" Adam said sarcastically, "Ooh, how wicked would it be to be Bond! Like a proper spy!"

"You tosser," Lily laughed, "Ok, Depp!"

"Stop using actors from Pirates of the Caribbean, you loser," Robin sighed.

"I got a jar of dirt! I got a jar of dirt!" Lily quoted, grinning like a loon.

All throughout this argument, Meryl noticed, Josh had taken a back seat. He just sat in thought and let his siblings bicker. She could almost sense that when the others ran out of ideas he would step in with a sensible one. More realistic.

Just at that moment, proving her right, Josh sat up in his chair and spoke loudly.

"What about Hardy? From Laurel and Hardy? Its not too obvious but its pretty cool."

"Aw, why couldn't we be Laurel?" Lily whined.

"Cos that's too girly! It's a flower ain't it?" Robin answered.

"So that's it," Meryl clapped her hands together to avoid further debate, "Joshua Hardy, Robin Hardy, Adam Hardy and Lily Hardy."

"Wow, we sound _hard_!" Adam grinned.

"Don't be such a tit."

**Hehe i love using all the language i learn everyday as insults! its so fun! please review I'll give you a smoothie with a straw!**


	5. Pranks

**Hey, another chapter so Becky doesn't die! Hope you like it! Enjoy!**

There were faint footsteps along the sixth floor corridor as three figures sprinted as quietly as they could to their first target of the night. They huddled round the door and one produced a simple lock pick. He quickly got to work, after years of training it was open in seconds. The figures crept into the room and did a quick survey, seeing that the occupant was in her bed, wrapped snugly in her covers in a deep sleep. The first boy pulled a can out of his rucksack and silently headed to her bedside. He cracked open the tin and poured the gooey, lumpy mixture all over the sleeping girl. The other two, meanwhile, set about with trip wires and a pile of feathers. The fan already in the room was positioned exactly to the place it would have most effect in this prank.

The tallest boy signed that it was time to move out and onto the next room. They slipped out, clicking the door softly behind. Slowly they progressed down the corridor, going in and out of girl's rooms only and setting up different tricks that their wild imaginations had dreamt up. One involved a _lot _of smelly cheese covering all someone's clothes and bright blue hair dye in the shampoo.

* * *

A single figure tiptoed into an en suite bathroom and began rooting around the cupboards. He picked up something small and round, like a sausage. He flicked his tiny LED torch on to see what it was.

"What the hell is that?!" he yelped, dropping the offending object on the floor.

"Shh, Bruce, keep it down you dickhead!" James came into the bathroom.

"What's that?" Bruce hissed, pointing. James followed his finger and his face lit up when he saw it.

"That, my friend is a tampon!" he grinned, chortling at Bruce's look of repulsion, "You know the thing girl's stick up their…"

"Yes, I know what it is! I don't want the details!" Bruce cringed. "Let's get out of here, it's the last room and then we can go to bed. Rob's waiting."

"What, there is no way I'm passing up this chance!" James grabbed a box of tampons, "Come on!"

* * *

Kerry didn't want to get up, she felt so comfortable when her eyes flickered reluctantly open to be greeted by bright sunlight filtering through a gap between her curtains. She thought about what she was doing today, no school, thank god, so she could have a nice day with all her mates. Maybe they could go bowling and she could invite Josh along. He got on really well with the group, except James who she could tell was just jealous. They would have loads of fun.

A loud beeping interrupted her thoughts and she slapped her hand down wearily on her alarm clock. It ceased wailing and she sat up in her bed. That was when she noticed the beans. The orange liquid was all over her duvet and pyjamas, it was even in her hair. She let out a scream of fury because she knew the only person to be stupid enough to pull this off was. "James! Fucking Adams! You bastard!" This cry was joined by several others up and down the corridor as more girls fell into the carefully laid traps. "You are so dead!"

* * *

James flinched in his pillows as he heard the yells. He decided he better stay in his room until they'd calmed down a bit. Otherwise he would end up being killed ten times over!

* * *

Lily stumbled out of her bedroom after hearing the racket downstairs. She suspected her brother was involved somehow, he always was. She padded down the corridor in shorts and t-shirt rubbing her eyes when she bumped into something solid.

"Christ, I'm making a habit of this," she muttered, "Sorry!" She spoke to the boy that stood in front of her. She'd seen him around. He was quite large in build, but not fat, muscular and he was very tanned.

"Going to see what all the noise was about to, eh?" he smiled his eyes bleary with sleep. Lily noticed he had an Australian accent.

"Yeah, um…I'm Lily," the young girl introduced herself.

"Greg Rathbone but everyone calls me Rat," Rat grinned, "Let's go see why there are screeching girls waking us up at eight in the morning."

"I'm betting it has something to do with my brother, Robin," Lily admitted.

"I bet its something to do with James Adams. He's always causing havoc, that's what he lives for." The two headed downstairs.

* * *

There was quite a crowd gathering on the sixth floor. It was mostly kids in their pyjamas having just got up to see what was going on. As Lily and Rat arrived one of the doors flew open and Kerry stormed out, her face like thunder but it was hard for anyone to take her seriously as she was covered in baked beans and feathers, which had caught her off guard as she left the room that had stuck to the sticky liquid.

"I'm gonna kill him, then bury him, then dig him up and kill him again!" she shouted, charging towards her boyfriend's room.

"This is gonna be good," Rat chuckled, "James is gonna get beaten to a pulp!"

As Kerry began attempting to bash down James' door several more girls appeared, including Gabrielle who had fluorescent blue hair. A few boys sniggered but were stopped abruptly by Gabrielle's murderous look. She joined her friend in kicking James' door ferociously.

"Hey, keep it down out there, I'm trying to sleep!" James' voice floated through the wood and made the girls even more determined to get in.

A finger tapped Lily on the shoulder and she spun round to come face to face with Bruce and Robin.

"That ain't the worst of it. Wait till they've looked outside!" Robin whispered.

"I knew you were part of this!" Lily groaned, "What have you done? Josh may be able to take these guys but you don't stand a chance."

"Look out the window!" Bruce smirked. The two youngsters headed to the nearest window and peered out. Lily caught sight of their trick.

"Oh, you lot really are a load of pricks ain't you. So mature."

"What's the point of being mature when you can have so much more fun being childish and immature?" Robin grinned. Rat just shook his head at the tampons spread out on the grass that spelt 'Missing Something Girls?"

"What's the weird blobby thing at the end?"

"Oh, that was just the spare tamponny things. We raided all the girl's rooms on this floor and just nicked them all, including those pad thing majigs."

"You guys are sick!" Lily made a face.

Suddenly there was a huge crash behind them and they watched as all the girls piled into James' room.

"What's the bet he ends up in hospital?" Bruce asked.

"Shut up, Bruce," Lily scowled.

"A fiver," Robin whispered behind Lily's back.

"Heard that."

"Damn!"

* * *

Josh and Adam had woken up at seven and were running round, or in Adam's case limping, the track. They wanted to keep fit in time for basic training which the others had explained, in as much gory detail as possible, how gruelling and challenging those one hundred days were. Adam wasn't going to be able to participate unless the doctor checked his leg and said he had a clean bill of health, which was unlikely. He would then have to do the one after the rest of his siblings which would be hard on him. This was the reason Josh was making it his personal interest to make sure Adam got back to being fit and healthy in time. They were running every morning and evening and swimming. Adam had a waterproof cast.

"Can you hear that?" Adam asked as they were heading back to the main block.

"What?"

"That. That yelling sound." Just as he spoke the front doors of the building burst open and James came haring out.

"What's he running for?" Then came the torrent of girls brandishing all sorts of weapons after him and pelting him with stuff.

"Hey!" he yelled as he whizzed past followed by the stampede.

"Someone's in deep doo-doo," Adam commented.

**Please review and I'll give you a slice of cheesecake!**


	6. Slap

**Hehe! I'm sorry for stealing a few lines from Class A at the end of this chapter but I just thought it was funny! Enjoy!**

Four figures ran steadily round the track in the grounds of the CHERUB campus. There were two taller ones, the oldest, a smaller one that limped slightly but kept up well and the last one was the littlest and she was bouncing along seemingly full of energy considering they had just completed sixteen laps of the track.

"Come on slow pokes! Get you lazy butts moving!" Lily shouted at them, enjoying that fact she was pissing them off, "You lot are older than me, you should have more energy!"

"I think you have enough energy for us all!" Josh gasped, he was annoyed by his little sister but glad that she was finding this so easy, meaning she would not struggle in basic training.

"Phew, I can see the main building!" Robin wiped his brow and put on an extra burst of speed, dying for a cold drink and a shower.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Lily grinned and sprinted after him. Josh did the same; nudging his other brother along, making sure he didn't lag behind.

When they arrived at the building they all sprawled on the grass, too exhausted to get up.

"Basic training in two days!" Robin said.

"Yes, that's so soon," Josh nodded. He looked up at the clouds floating along in the blue sky and sighed, "D'you think we're ready?"

"Sure we are!" Lily exclaimed, "We'll all stick together and pass it first go, just like we always have!"

"Yeah, we're a team," Adam smiled.

* * *

James groaned as he knocked on the next door. It was a day after the girl pranks and James was the only one who got punished. No one suspected anyone else and he couldn't dob anyone in because then he would be a snitch. Life was so unfair! He'd been told to pick up every single tampon and return them to each girl. He'd been to two so far and they hadn't been nice.

The door opened and a sour faced girl with braids scowled at him, "James Adams."

"Er, hey, Rachel, erm…are any of these yours?" James held up an array of boxes with tampons in.

"Yes," she growled and snatched one pack from his hand. Once she'd done that she slapped him hard across the face.

"Ow!" James yelped. Rachel sneered and slammed the door in his face, "I accept your thanks!" He muttered to himself as he walked to the next door along the corridor. The two girls before Rachel had slapped him too. Both on different cheeks so now he had pink, stinging cheeks. He guessed they had a pact that meant they each slapped him.

He rapt on the next door and cringed when Gabrielle opened it.

"Hey, sorry about…um…which ones are yours?" The girl grabbed one and struck him.

"Yowch! That canes!" James winced, "I would say that's the worst so far, seven out of ten." For that James earned himself another slap.

"Ow, the same cheek twice in a row, that's just harsh!"

"Do you want another one?" Gabrielle threatened.

"No thanks, you need to save yourself for the next unfortunate guy that happens to cross your path!" James darted away, narrowly avoiding Gabrielle's fist.

* * *

As James progressed down the corridor his cheeks got redder and redder until they were tomato coloured. Just as he was about to knock on the last door Robin, Josh and Adam came round the corner.

"Yo, James! Robin smirked, "Enjoying _your _punishment?"

"Piss off!" James scowled at him, "You're gonna get it someday!"

"Yeah, but not today!" Robin retorted, "You're looking rather flushed by the way. Been doing some exercise?"

"Shut up," James turned and took a deep breath before tapping on the door before him. Kerry's door. The others stayed to watch the events unfold. Just as the door swung open James placed both hands over his cheeks and held the box in his mouth.

Kerry appeared in the doorframe and frowned when she saw her boyfriend. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Arghe anrhy oowph thecse yumphs?" James was muffled by the packet.

"Yes, but why have you got your hands over your cheeks?" Kerry asked.

"Sugh yumph dwont hwit me!" James mumbled.

"So I don't hit you?" Kerry repeated and raised an eyebrow, "Ok then, so that means I can do this instead!" Kerry brought her leg up and kicked James, hard, in the balls.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" James yelled, dropping the tampons, which Kerry caught and watched him, amused. The boy clutched his groin and collapsed on the floor. He writhed, face going purple. "My balls!" He moaned. When he looked up he saw four grinning faces above him.

"You are such a sucker," Josh smiled, "Never leave your balls unprotected."

"You're all mean," James sulked.

* * *

Three girls were sitting in a circle, sleeping bags pulled up to their chins. Lily had met Lauren and Bethany yesterday evening when playing table tennis in the games room. They had immediately become firm friends and decided to have a sleepover.

"Did you hear about my brother?" Lauren asked.

"I think everyone did. He's gonna be out of action for ages," Lily giggled.

"Laughing stock of the campus!" Bethany added.

"What shall we talk about?" Lauren queried, helping herself to coke. All of the girls were hyper on caffeine.

"Let's play a game!" Bethany suggested, giggling hysterically for no apparent reason.

"Yes! I spy!" Lily hiccupped.

"No you…weirdo," Lauren shook her head, "Spin the bottle!"

"Ok," Lily grabbed an empty cola bottle and placed it in the middle of the little circle. Then with a flick of the wrist she span it. It swivelled round and landed on Lauren.

"Have you ever…swam naked with a guy?" Lily jumped in with a question.

"Well, it wasn't exactly with them but in basic training I had to swim naked in freezing cold water, and there were boys there," Lauren said.

"Ooh, sexy," Lily grinned.

"Not really, I was covered in slimy goo," Lauren laughed.

"Oh, next person," Bethany turned the bottle and it landed on Lily. "Yey!" Both girls wanted to ask the newbie the same question.

"I know loads of the boys here are turds but do you fancy any of them?"

"Er…" Lily flushed scarlet and looked at the floor.

"Who is it?!" Lauren and Bethany shouted, excited.

"Well, he's so much older than me but he's so nice…Kyle." Lily buried her head in her sleeping bag as she said it and did not see her friends startled faces.

"What?!"

"I like Kyle," Lily mumbled. Lauren gaped and looked at her best friend.

"Did you not tell her?" she hissed and Bethany shook her head.

"No."

"Did _nobody _tell her?" Lauren mouthed, another shake, "Did no one even make a joke?"

"Nope."

"Oh god…"

"What? What is it?" Lily was wondering what the silence was about, she peered at the other girls.

"Erm…Lily..." Lauren said, "Kyle doesn't like girls."

"What? Oh, you mean he likes older girls. I knew I was too young," Lily looked disappointed.

"No, I mean…um…he likes boys," Lauren said gently.

"Piss off he does!"

**What do you think? Please review and you'll get whatever Becky's waffly thing is!**


	7. Timbuktu

**New update here guys! Love ya all! Especially Becky cos shes funny! Enjoy!**

"He's gay, queer, a poofter as James would put it," Lauren continued.

"Oh man! I've gone and made such an ass of myself ain't I?" Lily sighed.

"No, I bet he hasn't even noticed," Bethany shook her head and popped a piece of cheese in her mouth - that had come on Lily's request.

"Thank God!" the embarrassed girl breathed out in relief.

"Now, I think you better change…how about…Bruce?"

"Nooo, I don't know now!" Lily pouted, "Let's move onto the next person."

"Fine," Bethany turned the bottle and it landed on herself.

"Have you…" Lily and Lauren sat and pondered for a moment on what to ask the nervous girl.

"I know!" Lauren grinned and whispered in her ear, "Ever…"

"NO, yuck that's gross!" Bethany recoiled in disgust.

"Just asking!"

* * *

James headed down to breakfast the next morning, his cheeks still tinged red. Robin was with him, mocking and teasing as usual. James was struggling not to punch the kid but Bruce was with him, and doing a fair bit of the taunting so it would be pointless unless he wanted his head down the loo.

The three boys came into the dining room and went to get some sausages and bacon. James grinned as he got a particularly juicy one.

"Yum!" he headed over to his usual table where Josh, Kyle, Adam, Kerry and Lily were already sitting.

"One day to go," Kyle was chanting, "One day until you die! Do dah do dah. One day until you go. Dah dah dah dah daaah!"

"Shut it, Kyle. You'll scare Lily," Josh said.

"Hey, I'm not scared of anything!" Lily retorted.

"Yeah, Josh, your kid sister is pretty tough and probably just as annoying as mine," James sat down and began tucking into his greasy food. Lily wrinkled her nose in disgust as she saw what he was eating.

"That's horrible," she commented, looking pale, "You are eating a dead pig. I bet that poor animal…"

"Hold it right there!" James put his hand up, "I wanna eat my 'dead pig' in peace thank you. I'm sure it doesn't want you interrupting my enjoyment." Lily scowled at him.

"Any way, Lil," Kyle butted in, "You love cheese, that's made from stuff from animals. How are the lickle baby cows gonna get their milk now you've nicked it all? And think how sore those mummy cows are gonna be around their teats."

"Firstly, baby cows are called calves, dumbass and also…I like cheese, it's not like its killing them."

"Ha, can you imagine if Mac had done one of the tests with cheese and not a rabbit?! "What would Lily do then?" Adam laughed.

"Well, how bout I take this away," James grabbed a chunk of cheese from Lily and held a bottle of ketchup above it, "Then we can find out."

"No, not the cheese!" Lily yelped and made a grab for it but James pulled it away. She lunged again and managed to yank it from his grip, "Ah ha!"

"Yeah, Mac should _seriously _of used cheese," he nodded and Lily glared at him.

"Anyhoo, moving away from the subject of cheese, as much as I like the stuff," Josh added seeing Lily's look, "We need to get some training in, come on you guys." The brown haired boy rose to his feet and his siblings followed. Kerry suddenly also jumped to her feet.

"I'll come too, need to get rid of these calories," she patted her skinny stomach and James raised an eyebrow at the apple she had eaten for breakfast.

"I'll come too!" he decided.

"Fine, I'll stay here and be a loner with Kyle," Bruce shrugged.

"Technically you can't be a loner if there are two of us," Kyle pointed out.

"Shut up."

"Right," Josh nodded.

Suddenly Gabrielle entered the room and strode straight over to James' table. She moved forward just as he stood up and slapped him across the face.

"Hey!" the boy yelled.

"That was for last night, the last slap I didn't quite get in," Gabrielle grinned.

"Not fair," James muttered.

* * *

James scowled at Kerry as she chatted non stop to Josh. He could tell Josh _was _quite good looking for a boy but couldn't see what all the fuss about, he was short! As they ran Josh slowed down and checked on his brother, Adam much to Kerry's visible disappointment.

"You alright, bro?" Josh smiled encouragingly. His smile made Kerry melt inside even though it wasn't even directed at her. James wanted to puke.

"Is it just me, or do you feel like vomiting?" Robin fell into step with him, voicing his thoughts.

"On Kerry, yeah," James agreed.

"Can I too?" Lily asked, "The way Kerry goes all doe eyed makes me wanna hit something." Robin subtly side stepped out of her reach knowing his sister's reputation for her temper. James carried on beside her unknowingly.

"I gotta go to that fitness doctor to check I can do basic training tomorrow," Adam veered off the track followed by Josh. Kerry went to follow but James grabbed her arm.

"Remember Kerry, you have to burn off _all _those calories still," he reminded her.

"And if you follow my brother one more time, swoon when he's near or go all gooey when he talks to you then I will smack you to Timbuktu," Lily threatened, "Got it?"

"Yeah, like you'll be able to punch me," Kerry sneered, snapping out of her dreamy state.

"Ah, but Josh is _my _brother and he wouldn't let _you _lay a finger on me," Lily replied.

"Fine, I'll get James to defend me," Kerry grabbed his arm; "You'll defend me won't you?"

"Not a chance, there is no way I'm defending you so I get hammered by Mr. Karate King. No way!"

**Hehe, next chapter is basic training! whoop! sorry this is shorter than normal! please review and i'll give you apple crumble!**


	8. Basic Training

**Hey guys, thank you all for reviewing so much! it makes me happy! Sorry this chappie doesn't have much of the Muchamore crew! enjoy!**

Lily's eyes flickered open and she mumbled incoherently. Her duvet was wrapped several times around her and she felt so warm. She smiled still half asleep and swiped a lose curl from her face.

"Lily! Get your butt out here now! We've got basic training!" a voice yelled through the door snapping her out of her stupor. She groaned and looked at her alarm clock; it was four o'clock in the morning, she had an hour before she had to be at the basic training compound. Rolling wearily out of bed she staggered to her feet. How could she be this tired? She went to bed at seven! It was then she remembered waking up almost every hour, worrying about what basic training would hold.

Shower first, she decided, heading for her en suite. She didn't want to start the gruelling one hundred day trial smelling and feeling rank. As the hot water cascaded over her she felt more awake. Her eyes didn't feel as sticky and her hair wasn't greasy anymore. That was the most annoying thing about puberty, greasy hair, that and the awful sweating.

After lathering her hair in shampoo and conditioner she stepped out of the cubicle. Lily wrapped a white fluffy towel around her and went to find her hair dryer.

"Lily! You have twenty minutes!" Josh's voice floated through the door. Well, that wasn't too bad, Lily thought. "And in that time you have to have breakfast too."

"Bugger!"

Lily found clean, pressed clothes on the floor with a large backpack, already filled with what she would need. She quickly added a few tiny personal things after pulling on the clothes and then began drying her hair. Her dark brown locks fell around her shoulders, soft and supple after the shower with several waves in them. Quickly she grabbed a hair tie and tugged her hair into a loose pony tail.

"Sis, are you ready yet?!" it was Robin yet.

"For crying out loud, yes!" Lily strode over the floor of her room, picking up the backpack on the way and yanked on the door handle. The door swung open to reveal her three brothers standing in a row, looking impatient.

"About time too," Adam grabbed her arm. He didn't want to be late; he'd worked to hard to get on basic training with a clean bill of health to waste it on his little sister being slow. The doctor had cleared him yesterday although he wasn't too pleased to hear what Adam was about to put himself through.

"Cool it, guys!" Lily pulled her arm away and glared at her brother, "We won't be late."

* * *

The family of four arrived at the training building at five to five. As they entered the room they saw rows of four beds either side. Three children were there already. One was missing. There were two boys, one quite short with brown hair and the other slightly taller with curly blond hair and blue eyes. There was also a girl standing by one of the beds, a scowl on her face, she had a sharp face and mean grey eyes. Her blonde hair was perfectly straightened and for some reason she was wearing make up to basic training. Lily took an instant disliking to her.

"Well, hello, boys and girl," a huge man smirked, evilly at them, "I'm Mr Large."

"Er…hello," Josh replied.

"Hmm…so that's seven of you but where's the eighth?" As if on cue the door burst open, bringing in a gust of cold air and a tall, lanky girl charged in. She had long, shiny red hair pulled into an untidy bun and chestnut brown eyes.

"I, I'm sorry I'm late!" she stammered.

"Nice of you to join us, Miss Kailyn Walsh," Mr Large sneered, "You are one minute late so I think I'll take away everyone's showers for today, maybe tomorrow." Kailyn dropped her head down, looking ashamed, not wanting to make eye contact with any of her fellow trainees.

"Right, time to set down the rules…"

* * *

"I'm so cold," Lily shivered.

"Get over yourself and pick up my bracelet will you, I dropped it in the mud," Eloise pointed to the ground where a gold bangle lay. Lily hated her partner. She was the girl that she had not liked from the beginning.

"No way. Get it yourself you lazy cow," Lily spat.

"That's not very nice," Eloise smirked, "Are you going to make me hurt you to do it for me?" Eloise had been in CHERUB since the age of seven and was a black belt in karate, Lily knew she didn't stand a chance but that wasn't going to stop her from standing up to the horrible girl.

"I won't do it," Lily said, defiantly. Eloise did a quick sweep of the assault course and saw no one was in sight and there were no cameras. Then, in a flash, she grabbed Lily round the neck.

"Pick up the damn bracelet," the girl hissed in Lily's ear whilst tightening her grip, "Or I'll make sure you don't complete basic training." Lily began choking, her eyes watered, she didn't want to back down but getting chucked off the training wasn't worth it.

"Ok, ok," she whispered hoarsely, "I'll pick it up."

"Good girl," Eloise smirked and released Lily who took in a desperate deep breath. Before the young girl could straighten up Eloise shoved her head first into the dirt. As she spat out mouthfuls of muck Lily rose onto her hands and knees.

"Hey! What the hell's going on?!" a voice yelled and Lily looked up. Her two elder brothers, Robin and Josh were running towards them, they were partners. Josh looked concerned. Eloise seemed shocked for a second but then found her voice.

"Oh, hi Josh," she simpered, "Lily just fell in the mud and I was helping her up." Josh turned to Lily and gave her a look as if to say 'Is this true?' What could she say? No, Eloise is an evil bitch who tried to strangle me. She wouldn't get chucked off the course for that. They would both just get in trouble. Then Eloise was sure to make her life even more of a misery.

"I'm fine, Josh, Eloise _was _helping me up," Lily lied.

"Ok, if you're sure you're ok?"

"Yes, now get lost," Lily forced a smile and shoved her caring older brother playfully, "I can look after myself, thanks."

"Right, well we'll see you girls later," Robin grinned and the twins set off again.

"Good move," Eloise sneered.

* * *

Adam was struggling slightly with his tender leg but he wouldn't show it, he was determined to finish basic training if it killed him. His partner was Kailyn. She was eleven years old too and she was Scottish. She had joined CHERUB last year when her parents had been killed in a train crash. He liked her, she was cheery and her eyes always sparkled with excitement even when they were facing the toughest challenges. He loved her accent and all her stories of the times she had worked on her family farm. These included a sheep that ate a whole barrel of sugar and a drunken friend of her father's who tried to do a rodeo on a bull, cowboy hat and all.

"So then this chicken flew around my bedroom in a frenzy and crapped on all my stuff. Then it tried to get back outside and smacked into the window. It was so dumb!" Kailyn finished her latest anecdote.

"Seriously?" Adam raised an eyebrow, his blonde hair being ruffled by the gentle breeze.

"Ah huh," she bobbed her red head, her freckled face breaking into a grin, "Exactamundo!"

"Bloody hell! Crazy chicken," Adam wished he had a funny memory but he couldn't think of any. Just at that moment the last pair of trainees jumped over the tyre wall and landed in the sloppy mud at the bottom.

Ralf and Frodo were both ten years old. Ralf had been discovered on a doorstep in Russia as a baby and no one knew where he came from. His parents were never discovered so he lived at an orphanage until CHERUB picked him up at the age of six. Frodo's mum was a drug addict and died when he was two and his father was in prison for murder. He joined CHERUB at the age of eight.

"Hey, Hobbit!" Adam smiled at him.

"So original, Adam," Frodo shook his head but knew not to take Adam's nick name to heart.

"How have you been doing?" Kailyn asked, taking in their sodden appearance.

"Fine until Ralf got stuck in the mud under the lake and I had to go in and rescue him," Frodo said.

"Oh, so that's why you look like you've been swimming," Adam nodded.

"Yeah, and now I'm friggin' freezing!" Ralf said, his teeth chattering.

"Well, just think, only a few hours to go to a warm shower!"

**What do you think? I'll give you an Easter egg if you review! wait, have i already offered that? oh well, you can have another**


	9. Dustbin

**Hey, been awhile in updating! please dont kill me! i shud really be in bed now! its like 11:30pm! man, my mum'll do the killing for you! eek! better make this a quick one or she'll ban me from the laptop and then i think i'll shrivel up and die! What would i do without the laptop? hugs laptop lovingly right, enough of the laptop embracing! read!**

The CHERUB trainees staggered into the main building at eight o'clock, cold, tired and hungry. The eight of them were desperate for some warm food and a shower. They had now been doing training for several weeks.

Adam collapsed on his hard bed, his leg was aching and his head was throbbing with dehydration. He lay back, hearing the springs creak ominously under his body.

"Taking a rest are we, Mr Hardy?" A heavy weight landed on Adam's already injured leg and he sat up abruptly with a cry of pain.

"Argh!" he winced as Mr Large's huge form remained on him. His face scrunched up in agony and his face turned red.

"Sir!" Josh jumped forward, looking furious, "Adam's leg hasn't fully recovered!"

"Well, then, _pretty boy_, he shouldn't be here then, should he? Besides, if I was a torturer do you think I would care about his leg?" Mr Large rose from the mattress, facing the young boy off. "I'm not here to be nice to you!" Spittle flew onto Josh's face and he felt like cowering away but he stood his ground.

"That may be but there's still no need to cause unnecessary pain. You're job may be to make this hard for us but it is also to get us through it without being chucked off. How's Adam supposed to do that if you break his leg?" Josh spoke calmly back. Mr Large reminded him so much of his controlling father that he wanted to punch him. He was pretty certain he could. The man may have strength but he was small, agile and quick.

"Don't you dare speak to me, boy," Mr Large advanced on him, not wanting to lose face in front of the other trainees whose mouths were hanging open, loosely, "For that you can spend the night outside on your own." He grabbed Josh's skinny arm with his hand in a clamp-like grip. It felt like his bone was about to break in two at any moment but Josh refrained from making any sound. Mr Large dragged him outside the building and flung him into the mud. Darkness was beginning to fall and the temperature was freezing. "I'd like to see you try and survive this. Looking forward to seeing you knocking on my door tonight when your hands have turned into ice blokes and then I can throw you off training. Good luck, pretty boy!"

Mr Large turned round and headed back into the hut, slamming the wooden door behind him.

"Any of you try and help him and you'll be off this course quicker than you can say 'Sorry Mr Large.'" Several children nodded in understanding but Robin scowled at him. No one treated his twin like that and got away with it.

"Now, who's up for some lumpy soup and stale bread? Well you ain't getting any!" he grinned, obviously getting a kick out of being horrible, "And no shower tonight, all courtesy of _pretty boy_." Mr Large seemed to be enjoying his new found nick name for Josh, "Nighty night!" He laughed and left the draughty building. As the door swung closed they heard a grunt of pain as the head training instructor booted Josh in the side.

* * *

"That's it. I've had it with that guy throwing his weight around," Robin exploded as soon as he'd gone, "Throwing Josh out in the cold just cos he stood up for Adam!"

"Oi, thanks to your tosser of a brother we all have to go without bloody food and a shower. What a twat!" Eloise butted in, "How am I supposed to survive without washing my hair?"

"Get over yourself, Eloise," Lily bit off, starting towards her, her eyes burning with fiery rage, "Don't you dare insult my brother."

"Oh, and what you gonna do about it? I bet no one else wants to thank him for it!" Eloise continued. "Do you guys?" She looked at Kailyn, Frodo and Ralf expectantly. They remained silent. The blonde haired girl glared at them, her lips set in a tight line. "You load of wuss'"

"See, Eloise, nobody agrees with you," Lily snapped.

"Whatever," Eloise flounced over to her bed, "They'll agree with me when they wake up sometime tonight absolutely starving."

* * *

Josh wasn't quite sure what to do. He couldn't get thrown of basic training. How could he make sure Mr Large didn't pick on his siblings? How could he help Adam with his leg? Or Lily if she was struggling? He had no thought for himself as these thoughts whizzed through his mind. He had to survive this night, to help them.

_Right, first things first, warmth._ Josh was still wearing his soaking wet clothes from the assault course and he knew he had to change them if he didn't want to catch hypothermia. Quickly, he levered himself to his feet and set off in search of anything that would be able to be wrapped around his shivering body. He rummaged through the dustbins outside the building but found nothing. _But what about the bin bag? That would provide some protection against the elements. _

Josh set off again and staggered towards the instructors hut. He peered through the window and saw, much to his disgust, the instructors lounging around by a crackling fire, TV blaring and food wrappers littering the table in front of them. _Lazy sods. _Josh clamped his mouth tightly shut to stop his teeth from chattering. The sound was rattling through his skull. He looked around their bins too and found a discarded, still warm, half pizza. His stomach rumbled, and he realised how hungry he was, he wolfed down the food. It tasted so delicious even though it had been in the trash. Josh delved further into the dustbin and found nothing more edible. Disappointed, he looked at the mess he'd made on the floor. _Ah well, I can always blame it on a fox. _He shrugged and trudged away from the hut. As he did so it began to rain. _Oh well that's just great. I get to be bloody rained on. _

Josh held up a grubby arm above his head in a feeble attempt to shield himself from the freezing water but to no avail. Maybe he should just give up now. Walk over to the instructors hut and into the warmth. _No! My siblings need me. I have to keep going. _As the young boy's bones began to shake he saw the upturned bin and was struck with an idea. It was a revolting, stomach turning idea but he didn't really have much option. _Here goes nothing…

* * *

_

Mr Large stepped out of his living quarters into the fresh morning air and drew in a huge, refreshing breath. He could hear a bird twittering in a nearby tree and another replying from a distance. It was days like this when he loved making kids' lives a misery. Then he remembered _pretty boy._ The kid hadn't given up. Damn, that was another one he hadn't managed to make quit. He looked around and couldn't see Josh anywhere. Maybe he'd died, would that count as a quit? Mr Large scanned the area and then headed over to the training block. Josh better not be in there or he was gonna throw the whole group off training.

As he burst through the door, Mr Large looked around the room for a tell tale sign of the boy but couldn't spot him. Where the hell could he be then?

"Good morning, my little cupcakes!" Mr Large bellowed at the sleeping trainees, "You better be up in five minutes or there will be no breakfast and no shower!" Seven heads snapped up and leapt from their mattresses lightening fast. All of them were starving. "Good kiddies! Now, prizes to whoever can find pretty boy first! Dead or alive!" Robin shot the instructor a look that could've killed had he not been looking the other way and shoved his boots on his feet before half walking half running outside. Lily and Adam were not slow to follow, worried for their brother's welfare.

* * *

Outside, the morning was cold and the ground sodden. Robin began to get anxious as the three of them scoured the surrounding area but found nothing. Where could Josh be?

"Josh?!" Lily yelled into the silent training compound, "Josh, where are you?" She span on the spot, her shoe churning up loose soil but got no reply.

"Josh!" Adam joined in, "You don't think he's unconscious, do you? Or dead?" He looked worriedly at his older brother.

"Nah, if Josh thought he couldn't handle the weather he wouldn't be stupid enough to stay out. He would've given up," Robin assured them with more confidence than he felt. It was then he noticed the rubbish covering the ground outside the instructors hut. Could that mean something?

Robin jogged over to the bins and noticed some deep foot prints in the mud. Josh had been here. He looked at the bins. _Ergh, he wouldn't have? Would he? _Robin lifted the lid of one of the bins and stumbled backwards as the stench hit him full in the face.

"Yuck!" he held his nose and braved the contents of the bin again, looking in the interior. He was shocked at the sight that met his eyes. At the bottom of the bin, curled up in a foetal position was…

"Oh my god, Josh! That's gross!" Lily had joined him and looked at her brother in the bottom of the bin.

"Five more minutes," Josh muttered, waving a hand.

"No, you pillock, anymore time in there and you'll become the garbage!" Robin grabbed the end of the dustbin and lifted it in the air. His twin toppled out of the bottom and landed with an 'oomph'.

"Hey, it was cosy in there!"

"You complete and utter…" Lily struggled for a word, "TRAMP!"

**Hehe! May have put you lot off Josh for life now! Lol! please review! and have vegetarian chocolate turkey or as an alternative an Lindt Bunny! whoop!**


	10. Survival Training

**Hey, it's been ages since I updated but I've been really busy with other stories so I'm sorry. I've started school again and that's keeping me really busy with homework which sucks. So you can blame school for me not updating! Anyhoo, read and review please!**

Survival. That was the key in this exercise. The trainees had been left in a forest in god knows where with no food, no money and no shelter. Their aim was to somehow get to a checkpoint that was circled on their map about one hundred miles from where they were. They had two days to do it in.

Mr Large had had great pleasure in dumping the CHERUBS in this situation, he said it would test their intuition and inventiveness but Lily just thought it was a way to see how many he could get to fail. The threat had been that they would not continue basic training if they did not find themselves at the checkpoint at five o'clock on Wednesday.

He had split the trainees into two groups that he claimed were equal but Lily wasn't so sure. All her brothers were in the other group, which she thought was slack whilst she was stuck with Eloise, unsurprising considering they were partners and Ralf and Frodo. Mr Large said that whoever reached to checkpoint first, if they ever got there at all, would get a day off until they started the final piece of basic training.

* * *

At the moment Lily, Eloise, Ralf and Frodo were standing in the clearing of a forest in the pouring rain absolutely soaking wet. Lily shivered and Frodo looked at her worriedly.

"D'you wanna borrow my coat?" he asked, his grey eyes full of concern.

"No, I'm ok," Lily replied, her teeth chattering.

"Seriously, we've barely started and you already look like an ice cube," Frodo smiled comfortingly, shrugging his coat off and wrapping it around the girl. Lily offered a small smile in thanks and pulled the coat tighter around her, happy for the warmth. She really should have put more clothes on when they started out.

"Alright, just ignore me," Eloise spoke up, "I'm bloody freezing too. Why'd you give her a coat?" Frodo turned round and frowned at her.

"I only have one coat, you know, and she looked like she needed it more," the boy told her.

"Well, are you gonna give me your coat then?" Eloise looked pointedly at Ralf who in turn found something very interesting on his shoe and looked at the floor.

"Right, we need to get moving if we're gonna get to the checkpoint," Lily announced, feeling much better with Frodo's coat on, "We need to get out of this forest and find a road. That's the only way we'll get to the checkpoint on time. Also, if I know Mr Large he'll have dropped us in the middle of nowhere so we're gonna have quite a walk. Let's go."

"Huh, who put you in charge?" Eloise flicked her hair back, "You're like the youngest here."

"So," Frodo came to Lily's defence again much to her surprise, "At least she's giving us ideas. It doesn't matter what age the leader is as long as they know what to do. Do you suggest anything else?"

"Er…um…" Eloise couldn't seem to come up with anything so she just returned what she was best at, "Why are you suddenly defending her? Are you like her knight in shining armour or something? Do you fancy her?"

"No!" Frodo said a little too quickly and flushed.

"Erm…" Lily said, trying to hide a grin as she saw Frodo's reaction, "Come on. We have a challenge to win!"

* * *

Josh scratched the back of his head and looked left then right at the rolling hills surrounding them. He hadn't a clue where they were going but he supposed that was because his younger brother, Adam, was doing the map reading. He wasn't sure whether he even knew north from south. Robin was desperately trying to get the map off him put Adam was adamant he knew what direction he was going and that nobody else should know the route except him. Kailyn was adding her opinion and everyone was getting rather load and frustrated. Josh decided it was time to step in.

"Hey, Adam, I know you're our map reader and everything so no one else needs the route but think about the fact that if you got injured or disappeared how are we supposed to know where to go? It's safer for all of us if you let us see the map," Josh reasoned and silence fell on the group. Adam looked at the paper in his hands and then nodded reluctantly, handing it over to his older brother.

"What I don't get is why he listens to you and not me!" Robin shouted, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation, "And it's not just him, everyone listens to you. You're like the perfect boy with the looks, the intelligence and the strength. We're supposed to be twins yet I get all the bad traits and you get all the good ones. It's not fair." Josh raised an eyebrow at his twin's outburst.

"D'you wanna take that back now?" he asked, knowing Robin was exhausted and not thinking straight.

"Yeah," Robin replied quietly, head hung low.

"Well then, from the looks of this map Adam was taking us in the right direction, so let's move."

* * *

Mr Large smiled to himself and took a swig of the coke on the table in front of him. Those trainees were never going to make it to the checkpoint in time. The task he'd set them was impossible and he knew it. Two days to cover one hundred miles and even if they tried to hitch a lift he'd made sure that there were no roads within the thirty miles they were in. That would take at least two days just to cover on foot let alone get in a car and drive here.

He chuckled and looked across at his fellow instructors who were snoozing on their beds in the small hut they'd rented on the outskirts of a large wood. It was well hidden from view so even if the CHERUBS arrived there on time they'd think they'd got it wrong and turn back, completely missing the checkpoint.

The training instructor almost punched the air in glee, he had this all planned out. Nothing could allow those little brats to pass this time; no matter how hard they tried.

* * *

James groaned and rolled off the training mat, rubbing his stomach in agony. A smug looking Bruce stood over him, arms crossed and legs apart. He had just pummelled James for the third time and he felt like he was going to hurl.

"You fight like a pansy," Bruce stated.

"Pansy's can't fight," James wheezed, hauling himself painfully to his feet, "And don't insult me. I'm getting my butt kicked for you so you can practice."

"Ha, not much of a practice," the other boy laughed, "You're crap and you spend most of the time on the floor."

"Well, I'm sorry," James spat, "But this isn't my idea of a fun Friday evening."

"I think I would've had a better fight with a girl, in fact, make that a red shirt girl."

"Yeah, probably, but I wasn't the one who got beaten by a titchy guy with a dislocated shoulder," James retorted and stepped back swiftly to avoid a swipe from Bruce.

"You just wait and see when Josh comes back from basic training. I'll thrash him," Bruce yelled.

"Whoa, calm it. Even _if_ Josh does come back, people are saying Large is making it near impossible, then he's not gonna wanna fight you right away. He'll be exhausted," James pointed out.

"Then I'll wait till he's recovered and then fight him," Bruce answered.

"Dude, I still bet you'll lose!" James grinned and Bruce leapt forward to deck him only to find that he'd done a runner.

"You coward!"

"I may be a coward but I still have all my limbs working, thank you very much!"

**Random and not much happens but young love is blossoming so...Yay! Erm review and have a flapjack!**


	11. Joining Forces

**Haven't updated. Sorry. Thanks for reviews. Read Sleepwalker and Dark Sun! Whoop! Please review again and I'll try and update faster.**

The sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud blemishing the beautiful blue expanse that was the sky. Despite the glorious day several people were certainly not enjoying themselves in the slightest. They had already been trekking for a day and a majority of the night only stopping for a couple of hours to try and catch a wink of sleep which definitely hadn't come easily on the rocky uneven ground. Each step they took was laboured and tired as they made their way into yet another seemingly deserted field.

Lily groaned to herself, willing her body to keep struggling and keep fighting. She was exhausted and felt terrible. The young girl was positive she had blisters on her blisters and with each movement of her army style walking boots they rubbed painfully. Her legs ached and her head thumped with the heat of the day. She had drunk a lot of water but she was sure her headache was the onset of dehydration.

"I think, if I take one more step I may collapse," Eloise announced suddenly, swiping her sweat ridden fringe from her eyes. Despite hating the other girl with a passion Lily couldn't help agree with her.

"We should take a lunch break," Ralf suggested slumping onto a nearby rock and dropping his ridiculously heavy back pack onto the grass.

"Yeah," Lily nodded in agreement and fell onto the ground beside him thoroughly worn out. She was followed swiftly by Eloise who plonked herself on the rock beside Ralf and let out a long laboured sigh.

"Hey, guys," Frodo, the only CHERUB left standing began, a frown gracing his sharp features as he squinted at the map, "You're not gonna like this but I reckon we've only covered thirty miles and only have half a day left."

"What?! That sucks," the younger girl moaned loudly and took a bite of a severely bruised apple that had been rolling around in the bottom of her bag for god knows how long.

"That's what I thought," the boy nodded, "I don't think we're going to make it."

"But it's physically impossible to cover that amount of ground. We've barely slept at all!" Ralf exclaimed indignantly.

"Well, the bright side is that the road is only about a mile that way but the bad news is that it's pretty deserted so there won't be many people to hitchhike with."

"Shit."

* * *

Robin sat at the edge of the road and stared gloomily at the tarmac. They'd been here for an hour and not a single vehicle had passed. The group consisting of his two brothers and Kailyn were all sprawled out on the grassy verge hoping that by some mighty stroke of luck a car would pass, even a bloody farmer on a horse would do, but their waiting seemed fruitless. They had had to make the difficult decision on whether to keep moving or just stop a wait for a car. After much deliberation they realised they would never in a million years reach the checkpoint without motor assistance so had opted to stay.

"This is boring," Kailyn announced.

"Yeah, we got that, thanks," Robin replied sarcastically.

"Only boring people get bored," Josh stated at almost exactly the same time as his twin.

"I was just saying, geez," Kailyn shrugged and shook her mane of red hair around her so it flowed elegantly in the gentle breeze that had picked up, "No need to get snappy."

"I agree with Kai, this is getting kinda tedious," Adam piped up from where he was lying on the ground picking at the weeds sprouting through the carpet of grass, "On the other hand things might be starting to get a little more interesting."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Robin sat up frowning.

"Look," the younger boy gestured towards the field just behind him where a small band of people had suddenly appeared.

"Hey, it's the other group," Josh grinned, clambering to his feet and walking to meet them. He was quickly followed by the rest of his group.

* * *

Lily looked up when she heard a rustle upfront and saw four silhouettes coming towards her out of the sun. She scrunched up her eyes and put a hand on her brow in an effort to make out who they were. She didn't need to however as the leading one spoke and she immediately recognised his voice, "Hi, sis."

"Josh!" the girl squealed in delight and ran towards him all previous tiredness and pain dissipated. Running into his wiry arms she hugged him tightly and offered him a huge grin which he returned. She wouldn't usually show such affection to any of her brothers but she was exhausted and miserable and seeing them cheered her up considerably.

Once they'd made their greetings the two groups conversed and compared notes on their progress and plans on how to get to the check point. After several discussions they had all come to the same conclusion: the task was impossible and Mr Large knew it, he wanted them all to fail.

"Has there ever been a case where every single CHERUB failed basic training, you think?" Adam asked despondently.

"I'm not sure," Frodo shrugged his shoulders sadly, "There hasn't been in the time I've been here but I don't think Mr Large has ever taken quite such a disliking to a group before."

"Just our luck, eh?" Robin smirked, "Ah well, at least if we all fail we can all start it again and you can listen to me snore really loudly all over again!"

"Whoop-de-doo," Lily gave a fake cheer glad that her ever optimistic, cheeky brother was trying to brighten up a pretty bad situation.

"I think we should all stick together and start walking up the road. That way we cover some distance and also see if we can catch a lift." Josh had the final say and all his comrades nodded in agreement. With grim determination they began walking again each chanting inside their heads '_This is tough but cherubs are tougher_'.

* * *

Lauren knocked urgently on the wooden door in front of her and jumped impatiently on the balls of her feet as she waited for the occupant to get off his ass and shuffle over to the door once he'd pried his gaze from his video game.

"Whassup?" James grinned as he opened the door a packet of cheesy Doritos in his hand.

"James, there's a rumour going round that Large has made it damn near impossible for anyone to complete basic training this time round because he has some personal vendetta against a few of the cherubs doing it. People are saying that he's set them a hundred mile hike in two days in the Lake District."

"And?"

"We have to help them!"

"Ah ah, I like the guys but you know what happened last time you blackmailed me into helping. I'm staying clear. I don't want punishment laps."

"No, I see you're doing a good job of your fitness up here playing _Assassin's Creed _and pigging out on junk food. I have an idea but it won't even involve leaving your dump of a room. Listen up."

* * *

Still no cars had driven past; they'd seen several rodents scurrying around on the tarmac and even a daylight wandering fox but no mode of transport. The cherubs were fast giving up any hope of completing basic training. None of them wanted to admit it but it was three in the afternoon and they had no chance of covering the last forty mile stretch considering every one of them was shattered.

Josh was very fit but the distance with little rest was also taking its toll on him. He was sure that many of the others were struggling more than him so he set himself the task of keeping the stragglers going. As he gave Ralf a small push in the back he was aware of a strange humming in his ears and he frowned, puzzled. Luckily it didn't seem to be just him experiencing the noise as the others looked around too with looks of perplexity.

"Look! Look up there!" Eloise suddenly shrieked and pointed to the sky where they all could see the black outlines of two helicopters contrasting to the bright blue sky. "Helicopters!" She began waving violently and nearly whacked Robin over the head but fortunately he ducked out of the way of her flailing arms just in time.

"Watch it!" he yelped.

"Everyone wave and we'll catch their attention."

"But we're not allowed to use helicopters," Kailyn pointed out.

"Says who? In the rules it said we could use whatever means we wanted of getting to the checkpoint as long as we were all there by five o'clock."

"Alrighty then!"

**Thanks to Lauren and James!**


	12. Helicopters

**Short, random chapter before I get too side-tracked. Thanks for reviews!**

As it turned out the leader of the helicopter rescue team was an ex-cherub who had been sent by some of his old friends to assist the group of youngsters. They had been confused at first as to who would've known about their struggle in basic training but soon passed over this point in favour of the warmth and comfort of the copters.

They had discovered his name was Colin Hunter and he was twenty six years old having left CHERUB about ten years ago. He was now part of the army.

"You know, I could probably get done for this detour," he informed the four children present in his helicopter. The other four were in the other vehicle. "Hopefully we can get this baby back before the Chief finds out."

"So who sent you?" Lily questioned for the umpteenth time.

"Just some old mates back at CHERUB who I helped train to use a helicopter for a couple of weeks of training," Colin shrugged.

"But _who_?"

"Geez, Lil, leave the poor guy alone," Robin grinned and hit his sister gently on the shoulder.

"Sorry. Anyway, what's life now like you've left CHERUB?" Lily was a fountain of queries. She wanted to talk to this man, find out how he'd experienced being a child agent and how it had affected his future life.

"It's great. I don't think I should really talk about it though in front of Rick," Colin gestured to the pilot who looked concentrated on the controls with headphones covering his ears but was still capable of hearing, "I told my team you were a group on Duke of Edinburgh that had got into a spot of bother and needed a lift back to the starting point."

"Oh, thanks," Frodo acknowledged the lie that had helped them get this much needed lift.

"So, do you have the coordinates of where you're headed?" the man asked.

"Ahuh, Large has made a checkpoint here," Ralf pulled out a map and pointed to the place on the map.

"Man and you had to cover all that distance. Large is a bastard, I'm glad you're getting one up on him and that I can help you to do it. He made my life hell when I was on campus."

"What did he do?" Lily asked curiously.

"The usual back breaking punishment. Though one time he was in a particularly nasty mood and made us swim through this swamp full of mosquitoes and the like completely nude. It was disgusting; I was itching for weeks afterward."

Lily watched the man completely smitten. He was gorgeous and her hormones were in full gear. With lightly curled short brown hair and greenish eyes dabbled with golden specks of colour; as strong chin and easy dimpled smile the man was enough to set any girl on an emotional whirlwind. Especially when he crossed his arms a flexed his well toned arms in the motion.

Frodo couldn't help but notice the girl's rapture with their saviour on the journey. She was practically dribbling after all, her eyes fixed on his face at any given moment. Jealousy spouted in the pit of his stomach – a nasty green monster rearing to get lose – but he fought the feeling down. It wasn't like Colin would have any interest in a love-struck ten year old. Still, it hurt him to see Lily look at someone else like that.

"Hey, look down there! It's a cabin, I reckon that's where the checkpoint is," Robin pointed out of the window. He had been scanning the countryside very carefully and the smoking chimney of the little hut was all he'd seen for signs of life anywhere.

"Ok, do you want us to drop you all little way off behind those trees so it looks like you walked the whole way?" Colin suggested, a sneaky smirk on his face.

"Oh yeah! Large won't believe it when we stroll in half an hour early."

"I wish I could see his face," the adult sighed wistfully.

"I would take a picture for you," Lily smiled, "Unfortunately I don't have a camera considering I needed to carry a bunch of other crap and didn't think I would have time to take photos of the scenery."

"Too bad," Colin offered her a grin and she practically swooned.

* * *

The two beetle black copters landed on the far side of a big copse of trees and dropped the kids off. They were told by their rescuers that if they ran pretty much the rest of the way they would get there on time, maybe even with time to spare. After bidding the team goodbye and giving their thanks the group of youngsters disappeared into the trees.

Colin waved them farewell and then, when he'd seen them go, turned to his colleagues. They were all giving him strange looks.

"What?"

"Who the hell were those kids?" one woman asked, her name was Susie.

"Just some children doing Duke of Edinburgh."

"Yeah right, they were too young and too experienced," Susie snorted, "Come on; tell the truth just this once, Col."

"Okay, they were just little cherubs."

"Huh?"

* * *

Norman Large gulped down several more biscuits that were sitting on the wooden table in front of him. They were custard creams, his favourite. He savoured the sweet taste of the cream in his mouth and smiled with satisfaction as he saw that by the watch on his wrist those damn cherubs only had fifteen minutes left to complete this mission. They had no chance.

His eyes glanced over to the two instructors on the other side of the room. They were deeply involved in a game of _Slam_. Cards were flying everywhere and their hands were pretty much a blur as they raced to deal out their piles the fastest. Mr Pike chucked his last card on the pile, a Queen and slapped his hand down on the smaller pile. "SLAM!"

The man whooped like a child and Large pitied him for having such small delights in life. What kind of instructors who trained agents played cards? It was ridiculous.

BANG. The huge man nearly fell out of his chair when he heard the sudden knock on the wooden door of the hut. Who the hell could that be? They were in the middle of nowhere. The only people who knew they were here were the cherubs and they couldn't have arrived yet, could they? BANG. The noise came again and Mr Pike climbed cautiously from his chair and shuffled slowly to the door.

Tentatively he turned the handle and pulled open the door to reveal….eight severely shivering, exhausted cherubs.

"Hiya," the smallest of them, a girl, managed to chirp, a huge grin plastered across her grubby, wind-chapped face.

**Hehe! They did it! With thanks to Colin a random creation of my own who I know doesnt exist in the books! He rocks!**


End file.
